holds out. fans get all upset when the player says i want more money. when you see the health crisis, when you see the pain, you'll understand why that's the case. the lockouts a lot of times are about health care and fans don't like it. they're not taking the hits. all they're doing is cheering in the stands. >> thank you for that end point. no cursing on my show. my mother watches this show. it is time for "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips. >> soledad,'s just getting started. you know you have to tame roland. roland. he is out of control. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com bye, guys. welwell, after bye, guys. welwell, afte intense pressure yp you juyou just heard to tax returns. mitt romney released histax returns 30 minutes ago. it's no surprise. mitt's a rich guy. here's a look at just how rich. he made more than $21 million in 2010. almost all of it came from incompetent vestments, not

wages. he payed $3 million in taxes that year or 13.9%. christine romans is digging deeper into the 1040s. let's start with his offshore funds, christine. we had talked a little bit about that this week, and now we're actually seeing it in this, what is it, 200 something pages i've got on the table. >> let me show you. i have it too. this is from 2010. willard m. and ann d. romney. they've blocked out their social security numbers just in case you're wondering. so it's actually brad malt who handles all their blind trusts and their investments. he's on the phone talking to reporters. he's saying to call these overseas accounts is not right. these are funds. he's got all kinds of foreign stocks, american stocks, foreign bonds, american bonds. he has accounts that are third party funds he calls them organized in the kcayman island. there was in 2010 a swiss bank account that has since been closed. people are looking at these,

especially people who are opponents, people who like to talk about income inequality. they're looking for any of those signs that somehow, you know, he's getting an upper hand in the american economy, but what the campaign is saying and what these documents so far are showing is that he is by the book to the letter following the law. the question is what is the tax law? tax code, very big, very complicated. that's where they stand on these foreign funds in particular. >> okay. are we going to go to some sound there or no? >> let's go to the sound. earlier david k. johnson, he has a pull lits zer prize. very well known on tax issues. he noted that there was money, no gift tax, money that mitt romney was able to give with no tax basically to a family trust and that had raised some eyebrows and raised some hackles from people. but it's all fair. it's all legal. if it's fair, it's one thing. this is what david k. johnson

said. >> it's absolutely legal. the scandal is not the rom nis that complied, it is the law that requires you and me to be taxed differently and much more heavily than a very small group of people, those that run funds of the came that mr. romney did. >> he's talking about people who are the very top of the top of the 1% who make money with money. mitt romney is not getting earnings from his work, he's getting earnings from his money. that's taxed at a lower rate than if you go out and you actually work. that's part of the issue here, that people at the very top end, the money they're making from their money, they're being taxed at a much lower rate on it. >> if you look at all the 1040s, yeah, there's a lot of -- quite a difference here if you were to take obama, gingrich, and romney. quite a difference but really no surprise. >> right. i think you're right. let's look at that difference. you can see that the romneys, their total income in 2010 was

like $21 million. they payed $3 million in taxes. almost 14% for a tax rate. you look at the gingrichs, they earned about $3 million. they paid almost a million. their effective tax rate is 31%. obamas, 1.7 million, total taxes less than half a million dollars. all of these people, by the way, are way better off than the average american. the average family income is $49,000 a year, median income, and has been slowly declining. there's a whole discussion here about who runs for office, whether you have a million dollars a year, $21 million a year seriously is a lot of money. that's a lot of money that they made last year, the romneys. certainly puts them in the top echelons of earners in this country. it puts all of the players in politics way out of reach of the average american. >> christine romans breaking it down for us. now we know about the 1040s. what does this mean for 2012. jim acosta in tampa.

jim, romney makes tens of millions of dollars without drawing a salary. he has these offshore funds. how do you think this is going to play with voters? >> reporter: well, that's going to be up to voters. obviously in the republican primary process this doesn't hurt him very much. republicans like to see their presidential candidates doing quite well. i would imagine that this doesn't change that very much. even newt gingrich said last night during the debate that he doesn't begrudge how much mitt romney pays in taxes, he wants everybody else to pay roughly what mitt romney pays. that's why he's touting what he calls this romney flat tax. now getting to the timing of all of this. one thing that doesn't work so well for the romney campaign is that they're releasing this information on the same day as the president's state of the union address in which the president is going to be talking about tax fairness and making the argument that the rich should pay more in taxes in this country. as christine was saying a few moments ago, the former massachusetts governor is really just paying taxes on investment

income and dividend income. he hasn't really had a job outside of running for president over the last several years and so, you know, much of this money is coming in the form of investments and dividends. i would imagine that the president and the democrats will say there's the money we should go after. it's going to be an interesting argument to make. politically speaking it is good that governor romney is getting this out of the way. you could arguably make the case, kyra, they probably should have done this over the weekend. doing it the same day of the president's state of the union address, probably not the best timing. >> we're going to talk about that more with john after va lon. he's joining me on the phone from new york. john, what do you think about the timing? >> reporter: i think jim acosta makes a good point is that this becomes a proof point for the state of the union address. in the bigger picture the politics needs to be seen with a sense of perspective. romney had an income -- passive income of $6.2 million all off investments.

the average family of four in america makes $50,000. so the larger point is that it would take the average family of four in america 125 years to make the kind of salary that mitt romney did in one year off passive income, off invested income. that's a tough sell. we're not talking about the 1% here, we're talking about the.001%. so the fact that there's an effective tax rate of 14% on that income i think will start a debate. if it's cap gains, it's one thing. if it turns out to be carried interest, it might move the debate in a whole other direction. getting it out is good. >> there's the politics. do you think americans are sitting back looking at this and thinking, wow, romney would be fantastic as my financial advisor? hey, it's a bad economy. they're out of work. they're getting hosed. they're losing all their money. romney could give them some

pretty good advice. >> reporter: yeah, romney running for cpa not president of the united states. they don't begrudge people who have earned the money. this is money mitt romney has earned on his own starting bain capital and other things. so i don't think this taps into -- republicans are going to try to throw class warfare label on any conversation about tax reform that discusses loopholes that exist for the super rich. that's what we're discussing again is the growing gap between the super rich and the working wealthy. that's an important distinction that i think taps into people's sense of frustration. that's what this is about. and that's the way this could resonate politically. it's people paying less than 15% on $6.2 million of annual income all derived from investments in the past not earned day-to-day to day working. >> john avalon. thanks for calling in. this is the story of the morning

as just about 30 minutes ago mitt romney released his tax forms. let's not forget there was a debate last night as well. let me tell you, mitt romney was definitely on the offensive last night going after newt gingrich. here's a look. >> the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994 and at the end of four years he had to resign in disgrace. in the 15 years after he left the speakership the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in washington. i don't think we could possibly retake the white house if the person who's leading our party is the person who was working for the chief lobbiest of freddie mac. they were paying speaker gingrich $1.6 million dollars at the same time freddie mac was costing the people of florida millions of dollars. >> he said four things that are false. i think the american public deserve a discussion about how to beat barack obama. the american public needs to know what we would do with the economy. this is the worst kind of trivial politics. i'm prepared to describe my 15%

of flat tax as the mitt romney flat tax. >> is the tax on capital gains 15% or is it 0. >> 0. >> under that plan i'd of paid no taxes for the last two years. i learned something from south carolina, and that was i had incoming from all directions, was overwhelmed with a lot of the attacks. i'm not going to sit back and get attacked day in and day out without returning fire. >> there's going to be a lot more "fire." check out our debate thursday night, just days before the florida primary. cnn and the republican party of florida are going to team up to host our next presidential debate in jacksonville. that's thursday night, 8:00 eastern, right here on cnn. 12 hours from now millions of americans will invite president obama into their living rooms. 's going deliver his annual state of the union speech, but as history shows, it's also the ultimate bully pulpit for a president seeking re-election. brianna keilar is at the white house.

brianna, will we be hearing more from president obama or candidate obama? >> reporter: kyra, i think you can safely bet we'll be hearing a little bit of both. it's political and a presidential address. we'll hear him promiscuous proposing policy descriptions. giving money to states for retaining firefighters and teachers and the like. he'll be calling for tax reform that would see wealthier americans being taxed and also we would expect an expiration of the bush tax cuts that are for the wealthy that are set to expire in their entirety for the end of the year. certainly policy prescriptions. republicans not on board. a lot of this will be political. this is the state of the union -- or the state of the union that a president is giving in a re-election year. always political. of course, republicans are hammering president obama on this and the white house.

many officials are resistant to this label because it puts a chink in that presidential armor that sort of works to the advantage of an incumbent president. all you really have to do is look at where the president is going to be traveling to sell his state of the union. he'll be going to iowa, nevada, arizona, colorado and michigan. many of these states that play very big in his re-election campaign if, say, kyra, the president is unable to hold on to ohio, those are states that he would need to win and that would be the expectation of his campaign. >> brianna keilar at th white house. thanks so much. it was one year ago tomorrow that president obama delivered his last state of the union address. within that speech a lot of promises. did he keep them? cnn's tom foreman takes a look. >> reporter: over eight years after invading iraq, thousands of u.s. lives lost and an enormous sacrifice on the part of our military and families. president obama told americans our troops were coming home.

>> this year our civilians will forge a lasting partnership with the iraqi people. when we finish the job of bringing our troops out of iraq. >> reporter: by the end of the year the president had kept his word. the last u.s. troops crossed the iraq border in december marking the end of military combat operations in iraq. in this case, promise kept. and you can watch tonight for cnn's special coverage of president obama's state of the union address. it begins at 8:00 eastern live from washington. the supreme court rules against police in a gps tracking case that justices stopped short of an overall decision on searches in the digital age. we're talking about your privacy next. buried alive. after being caught in an avalanche. the rescue, all caught on tape. you'll see it right after the break. on my journey across amer,

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checking news cross-country. washington could soon become the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage. opponents of the bill say they'll fight that legislation. storm cleanup begins in arkansas and alabama after tornados touched down yesterday. two people were killed. at least 100 others were injured. at least 500 homes were destroyed or damaged. check out this incredible video from washington state as a snowmobiler gets caught in an avalanche. a helmet cam captured it all in an area known as stampede past. you can see the snow barrelling down behind the snowmobiler quickly burying him. fortunately two friends who were there were able to rush in and dig him out. supreme court has struck down gps surveillance without a

search warrant. the case involved d.c. police placing a gps device on a drug dealer's car. this is an interesting ruling for a couple of reasons. the justices all agreed on the issue of the gps being illegal in the case, right, but they were split on how they arrived at that decision? >> reporter: it's rare we can say they all agreed. the division was 5-4. it wasn't that it was a mistake. it was a mistake. you can't stick a tracking device on someone and let the police find them that way without a warrant. that's where they agree. where they disagreed was that five of the justices went further and said we have a reasonable expectation as american citizens. that's where this infraction really is. not just that they were outside the window of the warrant. we have to kind of get a grip on what we know to be our private lives in this new and digital age where we have a piece of gear. it's not just about the

constitution, it's about the bigger parts of the constitution and what they mean today. >> now we're very gadget dependent and as we know, there's a lot of gray areas in the electronic age. so what's the bottom line here? >> reporter: well, the bottom line is this, even though it sort of defies reason. look, we have these things like gps units. why can't we pop -- if we're within a warrant, if we get the warrant, why can't we pop the darn gps on and follow the bad guy, put him in court, put him away? well, you can and you can't. what they're trying to suggest is where do we have privacy? we have it in our homes, right? you think you have it in krour car. when you're on a public road, does it extend to that. can you have some big brother ten miles away for three weeks day in, day out monitoring your every move? that's where this starts to get ticklish and freakish. we need to understand what these

digital devices now allow us to do and whether we really want them to do these sorts of things in an age where, by the way, kyra, when everybody gets upset, the reason behind the fourth amendment is so we don't have anybody coming to our door and putting black hoods on. >> ashleigh, you always seem to wrap it up with the one little zinger at the end. you make your point. ashleigh banfield. >> it was all that time i spent in iraq. >> exactly. thanks, ashleigh. coming to a starbucks near you, we're going to tell you how your neighborhood barista could be shrinking drinks at the iconic coffee shops.

search crews crews find another body. 16 people now confirmed dead. plans to remove the ship's fuel have been on hold once again. zain verjee is in london. when are crews going to be able to start offloading this? >> reporter: they're saying that the earliest they could do it, kyra, would be saturday or sometime over the weekend. they have made a defin tich decision today, though, not to start siphoning off the fuel just yet. when they start doing it the whole process, kyra, they say is going to take something like 28 days or so. as they remove the fuel, they're going to have to replace the fuel with water. the reason that they're going to do that is because they want to maintain the balance of the ship itself. now officials on the ground have said that they're also going to continue the salvage operation and at the same time still look and see if there's any remote possibility there could be any survivors on board or still try and find at least the victims

that are still missing. kyra, i want you to take a look at this video also. it's pretty dramatic stuff we got in from one of our miami affiliates. it's a couple whose names are david and denise saba. they shot this video. on the ship itself as the evacuation was happening. just take a look at this. you can see some of the chaos going on on the ship itself. this is the video that they shot themselves, and you can see people all crammed in together just trying to figure out a way to get out. just listen to what they had to say about their experience. >> life boats. oh, [ bleep ]. >> very violently. >> free fall into the water. >> we thought we were going to roll over and get into the water upside down. >> reporter: they were talking about the life boat they were on

that just came whacking down straight onto the surface of the water. they were terrified that it would overturn. kyra, there's still about 16 people missing. >> zain, we will continue to follow the investigation obviously and the search with you, all angles there off the coast of italy. all right. if he leash yeah taylor is at the new york stock ee change. the s&p 500 has risen for the past five days. so how are things looking today, felecia? >> i think investors are taking a little bit of a pause. right now dow futures are down 50 points. we had a slew of earnings already before the opening bell. that isn't giving investors a reason to buy because all eyes are looking at europe and whether or not we're going to get some sort of voluntary agreement out of greece. mcdonald's fourth quarter earnings were off the charts. its revenue beat forecasts. take a look. i walked into mcdonald's this morning, there was a line of 30 people. it's clear that this is a choice for most people in the united states, especially when it comes

to breakfast. verizon swung to a lost. travel letters earnings also fell 30% missing estimates. we've still, like i said, got anxiety about the debt crisis in europe. investors will look for information about that. >> what's up with starbucks? going to start shrinking drinks? >> yes. you wouldn't really think about it, right? put a little schnapps in your coffee. >> not a bad idea. >> people have been known to do that. not in the morning. i don't advise it in the morning. anyway, starbucks in atlanta, southern california, chicago are going to start serving alcohol by the end of the year. it has been testing this in the northwest for the past couple of years. it's been pretty successful. these locations are also going to have small plates and hot flat breads. it's part of a big push throughout the fast food industry. they want to be a little more full service to boogs their bottom lines. for instance, i didn't even realize this, burger king sells beer in some locations.

as i mentioned before, mcdone nalds is doing really well with breakfast. dunkin donuts and subway also offer breakfast. this is the way a lot of these fast food companies have been able to make it through the recession, by offering more options to the public. clearly it's a plan that works. >> you can hit the drive through in new orleans and get your frozen dak ri. they've been doing that for years. everyone's got to follow the trend. they know how to do it. >> sign of the times. >> no kidding. mitt romney's total income in 2010, more than 21 million big ones. he made it without going in to work every day. so how does that resonate with everyday americans in a tough economy? and the nominees have just been announced for the 84th annual academy awards. a.j. hammer here with all the scoop. [ male announcer ] how do you trade?

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checking top stories now. explosions from five separate attacks kill at least nine people in iraq. another 72 are injured. four car bombs exploded in busy areas of baghdad, including close to an elementary school where 18 children were hurt. new video this morning from inside the "costa concordia" just moments after it ran aground off italy. a passenger from florida documented the scene as he and others evacuated. a body found this morning brings the total to 16 recovered so far. another 16 people are still missing. president obama will address the nation tonight at 9:00 eastern in his last state of the union address before the 2012 election. the president is expected to focus on jobs, energy, and education. cnn special live coverage begins at 8:00 eastern.

florida's primary just seven days away now and three of the gop presidential candidates are hitting the state hard. newt gingrich now at a rally at ticktock restaurant in saint petersburg, florida. one of several stops today of the winner of south carolina's primary. shannon travis is there too waiting to listen -- actually, has he hit the stage yet? >> reporter: he hasn't hit the stage yet. we're actually waiting for him. a lot of people out here are waiting as well. they're standing in line. it's a good thing that the weather is cooperating, kyra. i'm going to have my cameraman pan and show you how many people are waiting in line. inside, kyra, is packed. it's like standing room only. one of the organizers told me that they had 150 reservations. i don't think for the ticktock diner that they have that many reservations normally. newt gingrich is showing up here. a lot of people are obviously interested. the campaign told me last night that newt gingrich is going to focus on local issues. he's going to talk about the space program.

obviously florida is home to the kennedy space center. social security. a lot of retirees here. medical research as well as israeli/u.s. relations. 's going to focus on local issues, but you can best believed that the gingrich campaign is also going to be looking at mitt romney's tax returns. i spoke with r.c. ham mond, newt gingrich's spokesman last night. we're waiting like everyone else to see what's in it. >> all right. you let us know when gingrich takes the stage and monitor what he says. we'll continue to check in on that live event and with you, shannon. great. later this evening newt gingrich is going to talk about the upcoming florida debate and the primary with john king. be being sure to watch john k"j king u.s.a." tonight. as shon nonmentioned, after so much pressure from his competition, mitt romney releases his tax forms. it's no surprise, mitt's a rich guy. here's how rich. he made over $21 million a year or actually made $21 million in

2010. almost all of that came from investments, not wages. he paid $3 million in taxes that year or 13.9%. he also has or had offshore funds in switzerland, the cayman islands and bermuda. let's talk more about this with clyde anderson. let's start with the simple optics of this. bad economy. people are out of work. this doesn't look so good from the average american's standpoint. >> doesn't look good at all. you think about the average american is who's voting. the occupy movement going on, this is the percentage of people that are worried about this. you see something like this where a man's paying less taxes than my elderly aunt. it's rough. >> all right. we talked about the cayman islands, bermuda, switzerland. now we think of offshore accounts and we think, oh, my gosh, they don't want to pay taxes. >> right. >> however, he did nothing illegal here. >> right. it's not illegal, but the

question is is it fair. that goes back to the optics question, the appearance. appearance means a lot. so when you look at this and people hear this, the general voting public is going to have a problem with it. >> now he still hasn't made public the returns from the bain years. >> that would be very crucial. i don't think he will. it's very crucial because that's where the money was made. it's not wages that he's paying these taxes on, it's investments. did he make the money off the backs of the american people. >> why with all of that pressure to release his tax forms t seems like that's really at the essence of the debate here. >> yes. yes, it is. it is at the essence of the debate. he had the pressure to do and he probably should have done it sooner as a lot of people have said. now that he's done it, the question becomes is he really this all-american guy and can he relate to the general public that's struggling right now? people are hurting. when you see things like this and people ma nuf verg with savvy investments. >> savvy investments. looking at the details of these

returns, carried interest. explain to me why this was something that caught your attention. it caught our attention too. i had to do a little research here. i'm not a financial person, but i found this interesting. >> it's obvious that he had a very savvy tax guy. had he someone, again, he's wealthy so when he's carrying interest over, this is the interest. he's made things done that really help him to have a better tax position, to be in that percentage of 13.9%. he's carrying interest over. that's what he's paying interest over off this investment income. that's crucial. another piece that people aren't pointing out as much is that he gave his children $100 million. they paid no taxes on it. that's huge. most people will pay 35% in taxes. when you look at it, the average american that makes $65,000 if they're single, they pay 15% in taxes, married is 25%. that puts it in perspective for you. there were some savvy things going on. it's not illegal, but is it fair? >> do we want a savvy i guess financial advisor running this

country or maybe it's his tax guy that should be giving us all some advice on what to do. >> there did you. >> interestingly -- thanks for breaking it down, clyde. >> my pleasure. well, the nominations are in for this year's academy awards. they were announced just a short time ago. see which movie got the most oscar nods, plus if your favorite actor is among the top contenders. let's take a look at the big boards, shall we? the opening bell ten minutes ago. dow industrial down about 71 points. ♪ what's he looking for? i think he's looking for savings. ♪ i can't watch this anymore. stop! there's an easier way! we compare your progressive direct rate to other top companies so you get a great price.

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contenders.

it's hollywood's biggest night. the oscars. now we know the nominees.

"showbiz tonight" host a.j. hammer has all the top contenders. hey, a.j. >> yeah. very exciting morning of course. let me run through the best picture nominees right now. we have nine of them this year and here they are. nominated for best picture we have "the help", "the tree of life", "the descendants", "moneyball", ticker taylor soldier spy, "war horse", "midnight in paris." pretty tough category to choose from. i was happy to see extremely loud incredibly close. it hasn't gotten any talking about this year. it dealt with september 11th. it is a terrific film. imif' been encouraging people to see that. "the help" was the biggest hit. a lot of people were saying this category will really come down to a race between "the descendants" and "the artist." a lot of people have seen it's a silent film. doesn't have say major star.

it's made 12 million bucks at the box office. it got ten nominations. "hugo" got 11 not to my memories. brad pitt starred in "the tree of life." he is happy to see it getting love. while he could take home an oscar, he got a nomination for his role in "moneyball." pit was just on the today show. he was over the moon about his nomination. very excited to be up against his pal george clooney who was nominated as best actor for "the descendants" and as a screen writer for t"the ides of march." as for snubs, everybody asks me about that. i think you can make a case for leonardo did i cap pri owe getting snubbed for j. edgar. while "bridesmaids" didn't get a

best picture nod, i was happy to see it get two other nods including melissa mccarthy getting an oscar nomination for that incredible role of best supporting actress. "hugo" also. i was surprised by that. >> "bridesmaids", i don't think i've laughed that hard to tears in a really long time. do you have a favorite? >> just think about it and laugh. >> yes, exactly. the contenders, do you have a favorite? you were pushing for the tom hangs movie? is there something you've enjoyed? >> you know what i really enjoyed that i was disappointed not it see on the list for best picture was "50-50." it starred seth rogan, josh gordon lovett. i was disappointed not to see that on the list. i think "the descendants" is going to have a good year but so isn't "the artist." >> i have a long list of movies to catch up on. a.j. will be back with us

next hour. he's got the latest scoop on seal, heidi, their breakup. he's speaking out since the split. the man behind the money for presidential candidate rick santorum. >> how much? >> well, i -- it's like i've got to keep that from my wife. she could kill me if she really found out. >> his name is foster frooez. he's given millions of dollars to santorum's super pac. we're going to talk to him next. [ male announcer ] the inspiring story

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got some breaking news for you out of raleigh, north carolina. one of our local affiliates there, wral, is reporting that a gunman has been spotted on the campus of wake tech community college. we're told the school is now in lockdown. no one can either enter or leave the campus. drivers are being routed away from the area at this point. local police on the scene there investigating a call that came in. we're going to have more as information develops. once again, wake technical community college on lockdown in raleigh, north carolina. reports that a gunman has been spotted on campus there. we're following the story for you. well, he is the man behind the money when it comes to rick santorum's super pac. philanthropist and born again christian, foster friess dug

deep into his pockets and pulled out a hail mary for what was once a struggling campaign. our drew griffin talked with him about why he stepped in to show so much support for santorum. >> reporter: when foster friess saw his friend rick santorum stuck way on the outside of the debate podium last summer in iowa. >> you have the chance to say -- you have the next question, senator, i promise. >> reporter: he knew he had to do something. santorum wasn't getting his message across and trying to wave his hand in front of the media wasn't working. so this born again christian and major philanthropist opened his checkbook and began to write down numbers, big numbers that he would send not to santorum but to santorum's super pac. >> reporter: did you save santorum? >> no. >> reporter: did you save him? you're keeping him alive it

seems. >> david cost did an article. meet foster friess, the man who bought iowa. he went to 341 stops, town hall meetings. >> reporter: he is still giving. gave in south carolina sending more to florida. >> reporter: how much? >> well, it's like i've got to keep that from my wife. she could kill me if she really found out. i think i want to keep that under the radar. it'll be reported eventually. i just believe in santorum. i believe in what he can do for the country. >> reporter: right now it's he what this former investment manager can do for santorum that counts. friess has money, and lots of it. out of his jackson hole wyoming based foundation he likes to give it away, millions to haiti relief efforts, millions to victims of the indonesian tsunami, and like it or not, during the 2012 election cycle, millions to the super pac supporting his pick for president. >> reporter: do you think there's something inherently wrong with all of that money?

whether it's left or right? >> well, the reality is that it would be a lot better if people give directly to a campaign. if, drew, you're running for something, everybody else send money directly to you, you're in control of it. you don't have to play all these games, it's honest, up front, forward, fully disclosed. that's really the way it should be. >> reporter: friess has pushed the rules on super pacs by appearing at campaign stops. but law he's not supposed to talk to santorum about campaign strategy or what the red, white, and blue fund is doing to help the campaign. friess admits it's made his long term friendships with santorum, well, a little more formal. >> reporter: are you able to communicate? >> it's very, very touchy. i have to be very, very careful what i say. if i have a question i want to ask i call up the lawyer and say, can i discuss this? they say, yeah, it's okay. but it's just annoying to have to be on such egg shells neeg that you could unwittingly violate a law. >> reporter: while he won't say exactly how much he has given,

he is openly saying he will give half a million more if sportsmen around the country will match his donation. quite an interesting fellow, isn't he? >> really interesting guy. him and his wife lynn, terrific people, give away a lot of money to charitable causes, tsunami, haiti, all kinds of things, and also politics. >> and when you think about the fairness of super pacs, right, is this one of these guys, i have a feeling i know what you're going to say, that thinks he has an advantage over the little guy? >> it's interesting. i did ask him the fairness question, do you have more say in this because your money has more say. and like a lot of christian conservatives he says look the deck is stacked against us. we're battling against what he feels is the will ib brawl media, the liberal press, liberal hollywood, liberal government unions all taking part in this election. he feels like now, maybe, there will be a fair fight because he can put all his money, if he wants, into a super pac. >> what's he think about negative ads? >> doesn't like them at all.

and he actually -- >> putting that money -- >> you know said, look, if santorum's pac starts running negative ad, the foster friess money comes out or stops. he doesn't like them. he thinks the marketplace should control them. if voters don't like them, if super pacs go negative, super pac funders should pull their money out if they don't like it. he looks for market-based solutions for everything, like many conservative causes. >> interesting profile. thanks, drew. fans send death threats to a 49ers player and the angry tweets blame kyle williams for blowing the nfc title game. more from sports straight ahead.

let's fast forward take a look at stories happening later in the cnn newsroom. 11:30 in l.a. a 24-year-old german national is arraigned. he's accused of set morgue than 50 arson fires on new year's weekend. prosecutors say he was ticked off after police arrested his mother on an international warrant. at 1:00, mourners paying their respects to penn state's former beloved coach joe paterno, a public viewing on campus. paterno died sunday at the age of 9:00. tonight at 9:00, president obama delivering his third state of the union address, expected to from present several proposals including a plan to boost the economy. a lot of developments. check in first with jim acosta, hey, jim. >> kyra, mitt romney releases his tax returns on the same day he offers a pre-buttal to the president's state of the union address. might be a mixed message there. a live report in a few moments. i'm paul steinhauser at the cnn political desk. call it role reversal, romney on

the offense, newt gingrich playing defense. i'll break down last night's presidential debate. >> i'm rob marciano in the cnn severe weather center. solar flair sunday night, strongest one in seven years. that stuff arrived last night, but now, the plasma that creates the light show as the northern lights arrives right now, but it could pose people in danger. we'll have an update in the next hour. also ahead, big hits and breken dreams. >> he's not moving. he needs help breathing. i mean, i just lost it. >> ahead in our next hour, dr. sanjay gupta taking a closer look at the devastating effects of football and concussions. it's not just the pros taking the hard hits on game day. on any given friday. yoo-hoo. hello.

it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside.

all right. jeff, really. some fans of the 49ers need to get a life. >> we love that sports fans are passionate. that's not the question, right? the question is, is sometimes that passion gets twisted, right? take the reaction to punt returner kyle williams, he had two costly turnovers in sunday's title game with the giants. one fumble led to the giants' game-winning field goal. some fans vented their anger and tweets to williams, really out ofline stuff, suggestions he should jump off the golden gate bridge or run into a bullet. williams' dad questions the culture of sports. the 49ers, the team, rallied

behind williams saying we win as a team and we lose as a team. nfl hall of famer deion sanders showing pup supported i'm proud of the great year you've had don't allow yesterday's moment to become a monument. keep your head up, god bless. >> the best team in the nba, the oklahoma city thunder flying under the radar, russell westbrook, signed an $80 million contract extension, i would say he's a happy man. ucla star sharing, look at this sweet pass over to kevin durant. these guys are the best one/two punch in the nba i would argue. thunder win beating detroit by 20. westbrook could give team lessons to these two soccer players, arguing who gets to take the penalty kick, no me, no, you. teammates trying to break it up. the captain wins out. isn't that always the way, when i fight authority, authority always wins. he did make the shot and led the team to a 3-1 win. thankfully he made it or it would have gotten ugly in the locker room. >> line from our theme song.

thank you, jeff. >> all right. > it is now the top of the hour. thanks so much for joining us in the cnn newsroom. after intense pressure to release his tax returns, we now know how much mitt romney paid the tax man. he released his tax forms just about an hour ago. and it's no surprise, mitt's a rich guy. a look at how rich, he made more than $21 million in 2010 and almost all of it came from investments. not wages. he paid $3 million in taxes that year. or 13.9%. christine romans has been digging deeper into the 1040s. christine, let's talk about how much money he gave to charity. we didn't touch on that last hour. what have you been able to find? >> can i write the paper cuts off -- >> oh, my gosh. >> i don't know. we both have got the big stack here up on -- yeah. it's pretty -- ours are four or five pages. >> i don't like to look at my four or five pages and the 500

pages in front of me are daunting. couple things the campaign has been -- we got off a call with the campaign pointing out he paid 16% of his income to charity, trying to show he pays a lot of money to charity and a lot of dollars to federal income taxes, but he pays more actually in charity than income taxes. $7 million over the past couple years. he paid $6.2 million in taxes. among the money he's spent on charity, $1.5 million in cash, 2010, more than $2 million in cash to the -- to his church, the mormon church, also to cancer research, also to multiple sclerosis research, boys and girls club of america, a lot of different things like that. it's interesting because they're, obviously, trying to put the best spin on it on the big numbers showing he made an awful lot of money, he gives away an awful lot of money. his overall tax rate at 14% or 15% are what people are zeroing in on. as we said before, he makes money, pays taxes on that

income, at a lower rate than someone would pay taxes on just general wages because that's the way the tax code is written. >> all right. so, let's take a look at how romney's tax details compare to obama and gingrich. quite a difference. but really no surprise. but optics definitely a player here in a campaign year. >> i know. i wonder if with we'll be scrutinizing everyone's tax returns, everyone on the republican field's tax returns as much as we are or, you know, or everyone's doing romney's. $21 million, last year, effective tax rate at 14%. how does that compare with the gingrichs? they made about $3 million last year. their tax rate is 31% rather, and then the obamas made just shy of $2 million and their tax rate is about 26%. you can see that the romneys are in the very top of the 1%. there aren't very many people who run for office who -- i mean that wealth is rare, quite

frankly. but all of those people, i keep saying, make so much more money than the 49,000 median household income i think for the u.s. last year. so i think most people look at all those numbers and like wow, that's a lot of money. the romneys make a lot more money than everyone else, it's on investments and on a complicated tax return because he is someone who -- who has a lot of different investments. all in blind trusts. he doesn't make the investments as people say. and he -- even had a swiss bank account until last year. they closed it because they said it wasn't doing any good for him. we'll be talking more about the. thanks so much. we know the 1040s now, what does this mean for 2012? national political correspondent jim acosta in tampa. makes tens of millions without drawing a salary, he has these offshore accounts. you can't read into the minds of voters, but no doubt, this is going to -- this is going to play in how folks view romney now? >> that's right, kyra.

mitt romney making roughly $40 million and paying 14% in taxes on that $40 million over two years, that's not a big problem for mitt romney with the republican party. republicans are not going to begrudge the fact that he makes lots of money or pays little in taxes. they're going to like the fact he gives a lot of money to his church and to his charity, the problem for mitt romney today, is sort of the optics, the way this tax return, these tax returns are coming out, on the same day that he's trying to offer a pre-buttal to the president's state of the union address. what the romney campaign has put up this morning a giant obama isn't working banner over where mitt romney will be giving his speech. he will be talking about how the president's handling of the economy could have been much better. we're standing inside an abandoned warehouse, mitt romney will make the argument this warehouse is abandoned, the factory is closed because of obama economics. the problem for that, though, is that the president's team, their political team, has also put together some optics for this

evening. they are putting warren buffett's secretary in the first lady's box at the state of the union address. why is that important? warren buffett said i pay a lower effective tax rate than my other secretary. president obama has talked about the buffet rule, how he would like to seat rich pay more in taxes than, perhaps, the people who work for them. and so, you know, all of this is going to be a general election image problem for the romney campaign today because of the timing of the release of these tax returns. we're going to see how governor romney handles this issue later this morning, give a speech in about a half hour from now, got the teleprompters up behind me, a very big indication he's going directly after the president today and his handling of the economy. >> we'll check back in with you when that event starts. thanks so much. let's talk with john avalon, calling in also on the phone, via new york. john, we've been talking about the fact that romney has made a lot of money. we mentioned in particular, these funds in the cayman

islands and bermuda. but bottom line, he's a rich man, but these returns don't show that he did anything wrong? >> no. that's exactly right. everything is perfectly legal in these tax returns. the question i think is whether it ends up making sense in a common sense fair way to the american people, because you do have a guy who's among the ranks of the super rich, not talking about the 1%, we're talking about the .001%. and he pays a less than 15% rate. that is just a loophole that's been put in place. we have to figure out if it's purely cap gains or carried interest involved as well. but that -- when you view politics with such perspective that becomes a problem. bloomberg did an analysis that puts it in perspective. the 1% in america threshold is around $380,000 a year. that's how much the romneys made in a week. off investment income. you are talking about a time when the middle class feels

squeezed, a growing gap between the super rich and working wealthy, this could be a political issue. nobody begrudges success, this is a remarkable measure of success. the question is the loopholes and the exceptions put in place baked in the tax code so a guy who's at that top .001%, pays 20% -- 20 points less on income tax than the top rate for everybody else. >> and you mentioned carried interest and yes, it is there. we talked about that last hour with one of our financial gurus, so it's a little inside baseball. but a point well made, john. one more thing to talk about. now let me ask you about the timing of this release. you know, tonight the state of the union address obama plans to zero in on income inequality and romney's expected to give his prebuttal this hour. >> the prebuttal. i love how that word has been sutley mainstreamed. look, that's because romney's trying to present himself already as the nominee, the alternative to the president. the timing isn't great because it becomes exhibit a in the

point the president's trying to make. which is that we have an economy that isn't working for everyone as well as it should. the president's already indicated that he wants to campaign as the defender of the middle class. the forgotten squeezed middle class. at a time when the super rich have been doing beautifully, everyone else feels enormous pressure and frustration at a slow-growing economy. the question is whether mitt romney can represent himself as the guy who best can understand the economy and, therefore, kickstart it into action or whether he will be seen as elite and out of touch. because in part of these loopholes and tax rates he's able to legally take advantage of but strike a lot of people as problematic politically, if not ethically, to say the least, politically, not ethically. >> john, thanks so much. >> thank you. >> you bet. we got our hands on these tax returns last hour, it sort of overshadowed something else that happened last night in politics, the debate in florida. here's highlights for you. >> in the 1990s, he had to resign in disgrace from the job

as speaker. i had the opportunity to go off and run the olympic winter games. in the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in washington. >> we have an ad in which both john mccain and mike huckabee in 2007/2008 explain how much they think governor romney can't tell the truth. >> i don't think we can possibly retake the white house if the person who's leading our party is the person who was working for the chief lobbyist of freddie mac. >> start right there. there's no place in the contract that provides for lobbying. i've never done any lobbying. >> you were on this stage at a prior debate, you said you were paid $300,000 by freddie mac for a historian, as a historian. they don't pay people $25,000 a month for six years as historians. >> you've been walking around this state saying things untrue. it is not correct to describe public citizenship, having public advocacy as lobbying.

>> the [ inaudible ] that runs iran is having al qaeda in charge of huge oil reserves and gas reserves and nuclear weapon. >> i think it's not 1962 anymore and we don't have to use force and intimidation and overthrow governments. i don't think that's going to work. >> they rejected conservatism when its was hard to stand. it's going to be hard to stand whoever this president's going to be elected, it's going to be tough. there is going to be a mountain of problems. it's going to be easy to bail out and compromise your principles. >> the idea that somehow everything important for conservatism or for america happens in government is simply wrong. i've been in the private sector, i worked in one business that was in trouble and helped turn it around. >> i think only a genuine conservative who's in a position to debate obama and to show how wide the gap is, between obama's policies and conservatism, can, in fact, win. we better be prepared to beat him in the debate and prove exactly how wrong his values are and how wrong his practices are. >> governor romney's plan in massachusetts was the basis for

obama care. speaker gingrich for 20 years up until last year supported individual mandate which is at the core of obama care. and there is no difference between president obama and these two gentlemen and that's why this election here in florida is so critical. >> an election that newt gingrich is addressing right now in st. petersburg. let's listen in. >> specialty to say as many untrue things as fast as you can. to get them all into one or two quick statements. i thought it was kind of wild. but i am thrilled to be here. i can describe and explain my candidacy with three simple questions. how many of you believe that the united states is seriously on the wrong track? how many of you believe that in addition to changing the white house, we have to change the way congress behaves, the bureaucracy behaves, the courts behave, it's bigger than obama, while he's the start, there's a lot more to getting america back on the right track than just obama?

and how many of you believe that even if we win the election, that the left and the established forces will fight us every single day to try to stop us from changing things? that's why i'm running. because we need somebody who's prepared to develop a team that actually changes where the country is going and actually changes how washington works. i always ask audiences, to be with me, not for me, and i tell them if you say you're for me, vote, go home and say i hope newt fixes it. what i described to you is too big for one person even the president to fix. i need you to be with me for the next eight years, so that we can go out, side by side, side by side, remind the congress every day, what we're doing, remind

the governor, the state legislature, county commission, the city council, the school board, if you really want to get america back on the right track, it is a whole wave effect that unleashes the american people to rebuild the american dream. and that wave effect has to be at every level. so this is a big undertaking. as i said last night in the debate, i find this very sobering to think about the scale of the challenge we face. this isn't just fun and games. this isn't like a high school class presidency. this is trying to get the most powerful complex country in the world back doing the right things the right way. i think there are three primary projects we have. the first is economic. how do we create jobs? how do we get housing price back up? how do we get economic growth in the right way to rebuild manufacturing so we're capable of being the arsenal of democracy and how do we balance the budget, return power back home through the 10th amendment so we end up with a smaller, less intrusive federal

government doing the things it constitutionally should do and within a balanced budget. that's the first big challenge. the gap between where obama would go and where we would go, is about as wide as the pacific ocean. he represents a big government, sal radical view of american future in which government is control and we are merely subjects. the second big difference is the nature of america. i believe in american exceptionalism. american exceptionalism doesn't mean you and i are exceptional, we're normal people, it means the system we've inherited from the founding fathers is truly exceptional and it start with the declaration of independence and starts with the idea that we have been endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights. this is central to defining america. the only country in history that says power comes from god to each one of you personally. you are personally sovereign.

and -- and those rights are unalienable which means that no government can come between you and god. no bureaucrat, no judge, no president, can come between you and god. this is why, since you're sovereign, we begin our constitution, we the people. we don't say, we, the politic n politicians, we the bureaucrats, we the judges, we say, we, the people. because in america you are always a citizen and the government should be your servant, not the other way around. now -- >> newt gingrich, live in st. petersburg, florida. we will follow, of course, all the gop candidates as they hold these live events in the state before the primary. president obama delivers his state of the union speech

tonight. so just how involved is the president in his speeches? we're going to talk to the man who wrote two of them for president clinton. an insider's look, next. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can come from any faucet anywhere. the brita bottle with the filter inside. c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey!

president obama's state of the union speech could live on far into the future like president monroe's in 1823 when he warned european powers to stay on their side of the atlantic or it could be memorable like jfk's in 1963 and his eerie warning of storms beyond the horizon. or maybe it could be the subject of debate like president bush's nine years ago, when he warned of saddam hussein looking for uranium in africa.

sheshle wrote two for president clinton and wrote his final one in 2000. this potentially could be obama's last one. if you were writing the speech tonight, given this is an election year, what would you make sure is in obama's speech? >> well, first i should say clear out of -- for the sake of modesty and accuracy i didn't write the speeches for president clinton, i was lucky to write the speeches with president clinton. he was obviously driving that process hisself. >> give credit where credit is due. >> exactly. with respect to what president obama should do tonight, i think there are a number of things he's going to want to accomplish tonight. but i think the first and the most important thing is going to be to set the terms for debate over the course of this election year. the state of the union address, though it's wrapped in pageantry and the flag and ceremony and so forth, is always a political speech and never more so than in an election year. his rivals have been out there in these debates and on the

campaign trail doing their best to try to define him and define the contest. this is a great opportunity for him to do just that in reverse. >> aren't there a lot of cabinet members putting pressure on the president as well, saying i want you to get my pet project in here and i want you to incorporate this into your speech? is that true, and how do you deal with that? maybe you can give me an example of how you dealt with it with your speech with clinton? >> very politely, very diplomatically. they're putting pressure not only on the president, but on the president's speech writers as well. there is a full-scale lobbying effort that happens on the part of members of congress and on the part of the president's cabinet to try to get their stuff in the speech. if the president mentions it, suddenly it has shot right up near the top of the national priority list. and so as speechwriters we were getting calls all the time from cabinet members calling from their cell phones in their convertibles or at one point we were 24, 48 hours away from the state of the union address, we had really locked down the

speech, we were fine-tuning -- the president finetuning its delivery and in the middle of this rehearsal i was summoned to the back of the family theater to answer a phone call from a cabinet member still trying to get policy priorities for that cabinet department in the speech. so it's a big, full-on push. even though this is going to be a very political speech this year, it is still, at heart, a policy speech and i'm sure the president is going to be laying out his agenda for what he hopes to accomplish, what he actually thinks he might accomplish in this difficult year. >> i bet it's hard taking things really important and trying to make them extremely interesting to all of america. jeff, thanks so much for your insight. really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you bet. one year ago tomorrow that president obama delivered his last state of the union address. within that speech, a pledge to streamline government. did he keep that sfloms tom foreman takes a look. >> president obama came to office promising to change the way washington does business,

and in his last state of the union, he got specific. >> in the coming months my administration will develop a proposal to merge, consolidate and reorganize the federal government in a way that best serves the goal of a more competitive america. >> he did it in the sense that after almost an entire year, he finally unveiled what he had in mind, combining six departments and agencies all related to business investments or trade. it is a reorganization, sure, but not nearly as broad as many of his critics expected or arguably as big as he hinted was coming. this is a judgment call, but because of the timing and scope of what he finally came up with, we will say it seems to be a work in progress. >> and watch tonight, cnn's special coverage of president obama's state of the union address. 8:00 eastern. live from washington. right here on cnn. you've heard about comparing apples and onlies. how about this matchup? the white house versus an apple store? which power hub carries a higher

value by the square foot. .

so what's worth more, an apple store or the white house? felicia taylor, that's an interesting question. >> yeah, it is. sort of like, um, how do you compare an apple store with the white house? actually, it's about a tie. they're both worth about $4700 per square foot. $4700 per square foot. it's an interesting fact but like i said, it's not really an apples to apples comparison. apple's numbers are based on how much it sells per square foot. the white house is based on real

estate value. it does show what a behemoth apple has become. based on these numbers, apple is the most valuable chain in the united states. impressive considering it opened its store just about 11 years ago, which frankly in corporate history, that's not that long ago. so, it's kind of a tie frankly. >> interesting. all right. felicia taylor, thank you so much. we are going to talk coming up about mitt romney, coming out swinging. taking on newt gingrich at last night's debate and moments from now, offering a so-called prebuttal to the president's state of the union. he's a man on a mission, but will it pay off? our buzz panel gives their take. okay, team! after age 40, we can start losing muscle -- 8% every 10 years. wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb

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explosives from five separate attacks kill at least nine people in iraq, another 72 are injured. four car bombs exploded in busy areas of baghdad, including near an elementary school where 18 children were hurt. new video this morning from inside the costa concordia just moments after it ran aground off italy. a passenger from florida documented the scene, as he and others were evacuated. a body found this morning brings the total to 16 that have now been recovered. another 16 people are still missing. president obama will address the nation tonight at 9:00 eastern in his last state of the union address before the 2012 election. the president is expected to focus on jobs, energy and education. cnn's special live coverage begins at 8:00 eastern. all right. any minute now, mitt romney steps up to the podium in tampa, florida, giving a prebuttal, as they call it, to president obama's state of the union address, at 9:00 eastern tonight. it's like a preemptive strike. romney's expected to attack president obama's record on the economy, speaking at an

abandoned factory. we're going to bring that to you live as soon as it happens. all right. political buzz, your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. three questions, 30 seconds on the clock and playing today, democratic strategist robert simmerman, founder and editor patricia murphy and georgetown university professor chris metzher mitt romney's tax forms are out and he's rich no surprise. why is he so rich? investments, not wages. how is that going to play out with americans who are still punching the time card? robert? >> well, first of all, his success in business is not a liability. in fact, quite frankly an attribute. but the real issue is the fact that mitt romney parked his money in the cayman islands and in swiss bank accounts and, in fact, he's paying a tax rate that an average american making $70,000 a year pays. he's become a posterboy for the inequity and injustice and

unfairness of the tax system. >> patricia? >> i agree with robert, actually, that i think it's a big problem for mitt romney because americans just can't relate to it. who even knows where to get this banker, let alone a swiss bank account, is so different from most people's reality who are really struggling. americans, i think, don't have a problem with people being wealthy at all. everyone aspires to be wealthy. the way mitt romney talks about it, seems embarrassed, uncomfortable, like george w. bush, he was a man of immense wealth but very relatable to the american people. mitt romney needs to find a way to interact and relate to people who are normal americans or this will be what kills his nomination. >> chris? >> well, i don't think the american people really actually care about this. look, he's very successful, he's done a good job in terms of getting all of these things. i think, in fact, he could use this to really talk about reforming the tax code because as he indicated, he's paid the taxes that he was required to

pay under the law. and, in fact, was very charitable relative to the givings that he's done. i think, in fact, it's a silly discussion. we know that he's rich. the question is, can he use it to his advantage for reforming the tax code? >> all right. second question, last night's debate, mitt romney tearing into gingrich's leadership. take a listen. >> the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994 and at the end of four years had to resign in disgrace. in the 15 years after he left the speakership the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in washington. >> so are romney's attacks enough to stop or reverse the gingrich surge? chris? >> no. absolutely not. i think what romney has to do, rather than focusing on some random issues, first of all the speaker did not resign in disgrace, but secondly, rather than focusing on random issue, what he really has to do is distinguish himself, transparency, of course, is an

argue groumts that one could use, because it is the best disinfectant. the problem is he seems a little, romney, uncomfortable with the transparency question. barring that, i think what he probably could do to reverse the -- mitt's -- i'm sorry, the surge, is actually to self-deport back to new hampshire. >> robert? >> romney may be uncomfortable with transparency, but newt gingrich is just terrified of it. i mean what we saw in the debate last night was just a warmup act. you've got a state in florida where 44% of the homes are under water and newt gingrich made $1.8 million from freddie mac. mitt romney should be hammering away at his relationship there, his influencing peddling and demanding that newt gingrich release his contract actual relationship with freddie mac. all he has to do is sign a form saying i allow the full disclosure documents to be released. he's failed to do so. >> i think mitt romney did better last night in this debate

than previous debates showing republicans he is tough enough to take on president obama, but he didn't do enough when i was in south carolina, i talked to lots of undecided voters who said the moment that newt gingrich basically went ballistic on brian williams was the moment they decided this guy could be president, could take on a president who has a billion dollar war chest. romney didn't come anywhere close to that last night. there was no one moment he took fire and really grabbed people by the lapels and said i can do this, i can beat this president. he didn't do enough. >> all right. guys, i understand i might have to give patricia a little more time on this one. if you're an "office" fan, the actor who plays dwight sh route admits he likes a young newt gingrich. take a look at this. you have to love it. even changed his official twitter profile picture -- let me see -- to this vintage 1970 -- yeah. changed the picture to this vintage 1970s newt. now there are three more gop

candidates and we kind of divided these up and patricia, let me know if you need more time here, she went the cartoon route, we wanted sitcom route. robert, who do you think romney resembles? >> well, i had two choices came to mind. first of all ron burgundy, who is portrayed in the iconic movie "anchor man" by will ferrell. he was quotable and engaging but couldn't get it together and couldn't quite measure up. and very frankly, i would have chosen, if i remembered his name, the man in the advertisements for erectile dysfunction but i couldn't remember his name. >> oh. i am going to move on to chris. >> just trying to help. >> rescue me here, please. rick santorum, what would you say? >> actually i had two choices, the first was robert zimmerman, but i decided to -- instead, i decided to go with jerry seinfeld.

i think he has a striking resemblance to seinfeld. the difficulty, of course, is, he doesn't have the humor of seinfeld. so probably zimmerman would have been the better choice. i'm going to stick with seinfeld. >> patricia, did i give you enough time? >> i'm ready. >> give it to us. you have ron paul. >> i'm going with a thin archie bunker. sort of a armchair quarterback complaining about a lot of things, the world is not fair. i'm going archie bunker. >> love it. >> i could see the new sitcoms now coming out this year. you guys, thanks so much. >> thanks. take care. and the nominees are in for the 84th annual academy awards. a.j. hammer is here next. this new at&t 4g lte is fast.

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ask your rheumatologist if enbrel is right for you. [ male announcer ] enbrel. the #1 biologic medicine prescribed by rheumatologists. the oscar nominations are in and "hugo" leading the way. showbiz host a.j. hammer, live from new york. okay. you were -- you mentioned "hugo" had a feeling it was going to get a number of nods. >> yeah. and it definitely was no surprise. i do think overall, this is going to be a particularly tough year for academy voters, kyra. a lot of competitive categories this year, nothing that is an absolute, absolute win for anybody, i think. now we did run through the best picture nominees last hour. i want to take a look at the acting categories. nominees for actor are as follows -- demian bichir in "a better life" george clooney for

"the descendants," jean dujardin for "the artist" and brad pitt for "moneyball." hard to believe but this is gary oldman's first ever oscar nomination. i think that's definitely going to make this race interesting but i think the real battle will probably be between clooney and dujardin both collecting awards over the past few months for their roles. shouldn't count out pitt. i think he's going to get in there. a tough decision for actress in a leading role. big names matched up against each other this year. let's roll through those right now, we have glenn close for "albert knobs" viola davis for "the help," and rooney mara with "the girl with the dragon tattoo," merle streep "iron lady" and michele williams "my week with marilyn." i see a three-way race with streep davis and williams. it has 30 years since meryl streep won an oscar. maybe the edge goes to her and this could be her year. >> ellen is calling it and she gets everything right. we should bank on that.

>> yeah. >> seal finally speaking out about his splits from heidi klum. what's he saying? >> this is such a shocking split to so many of us, came down a couple days ago. we're all a bit shellshocked. he sat down with ellen degeneres and talked about what happened to his marriage with heidi klum. let's watch that. >> you go into these things with the greatest intentions, you know, when you say "i do," "until death do us part" those vows hold value, they're not just words. you just grow apart after a while. i mean, you try and you work through it and the thing that you quickly realize, is when you're married and you become a parent, is you do the best that you can. >> yeah. kyra, i think a lot of people relating with what seal is saying this morning about growing apart. it does, after all, happen. i can't remember a split in recent history in hollywood where so many people took it so

personally and feel so sad about it because these guys were the lovey-dovey couple of hollywood. we thought they were one that was going to last through it all. >> it's a shame. thanks so much. bit of a downer there. if you want all information on everything breaking in the entertainment world a.j. has it every night on hln, 11:00 eastern. big hit, broken dreams. >> my little brother, not moving, he needs help breathing. i mean, i just lost it. >> ahead in our next hour, dr. sanjay gupta takes a closer look at the devastating effects of football and concussions. actually, we're going to do that this hour right after the break. c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t.

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now more than ever, it's important to get financial advice from people who share your military values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. got an update on a breaking news story last hour out of raleigh, north carolina. we had told you that this technical college, wake technical community college, had been on lockdown because there were reports that a gunman had been spotted on the campus there. we are told that it's an all clear. the situation has been handled. that's according to the website now for the college. so once again, getting the all clear in raleigh, north carolina, on the campus of wake technical community college. big hits and broken dreams. a new documentary by our chief

medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta. he's taking a look at concussions and football and the dangers for kids across the country. here's a preview. >> football in north carolina is really big. if you're from around this area, you know jh rose is a four-time state champ. >> pumped up, excited, ready to go. >> that's all i thought, every single day. football football football. ♪ >> football is a tough sport, you know, it ain't for everybody. there's collisions in this sport. >> my little brother, he's not moving. he needs help breathing. i mean, i just lost it. >> waller was tackled, walked to the sidelines and then collapsed. >> friday's night's death of jakwan waller. >> it's a tough time for the community.

>> i remember getting hit hard that rang my bell. >> first few weeks a constant headache. >> the trainer was asking me questions and i was answering them all wrong. >> a small percentage of impacts that simulate that crash. >> he does have symptoms of a concussion. >> a parent came and said, coach, my kid wants to play football, but i want you to tell me he's going to be safe. >> i can't guarantee that. it is a violent game. that's always going to be there. can you make this game safer? >> wow. that will grab your attention if you're a parent. you've been on this topic for two years, if not longer. why did you want to focus on youth football? >> it's in my sweet spot because of the neuroscience background and sports fan. being a dad as well, although i have daughters, at love people come to me and making these decisions on behalf of their kids and the question is, what is happening to their brains? we watched those highlight films on television all the time and thought that has to do something

to the body. well now over the last couple years, since we've been investigating, we know there's more knowledge about this than ever before. we know what the impact of those collisions are to the brain. both in the short term and in the long term. these football players, kyra, they average -- average career is 3.5 years. they're retiring in their late 20s after having all this damage potentially to their brain. we wanted to find out what their lives were like. >> you don't have to necessarily suffer a concussion to injure your brain, right? >> that's right. and that's a misconception. first of all, a lot of people don't even know what a concussion is specifically. you don't have to be knocked out to have a concussion. it's some sort of disturbance of your sensation. but all these other hits, ones where people get right back up, nothing to it, they average about 650 of these hits a season. >> wow. that's the repetition. >> it's the repetition. i think we have a quick animation here to see specifically what's happening. so two players hit like this. you get a collision like that. you see what's happening specifically to the brain. it's not so much the hit itself

as the brain sort of moving back and forth in the skull, developing that inflammation, and that can be a significant problem. but those subconcussive hits are causing these changes in young brains that are similar to the changes you would see on someone with alzheimer's disease, except these are people in their 30s and 40s, not 70s and 80s. now we know what the impact is in the longer term. >> sanjay, thanks. as parents we're all going to be watching. "big hits broken dreams" this sunday night, 8:00 eastern, here on cnn. and we'll keep the conversation going all week with tips on how to protect your kids. [ beep ] [ mom ] scooter? the progresso chicken noodle you made is so good.

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we're following this massive solar storm. the fallout could reach earth today. possible problems for satellites power grids, navigation systems

such as gps. meteorologist rob marciano joining us to break it down and explain. sounds kind of scary. >> you know, we're entering this period of solar activity that's going to be quite active not just now, but going forward through next year. and the flare that happened sunday night, one that happened last thursday, the flare that happened sunday night was pretty strong, at least the radiation was. to give you a reminder when you a sun spot that emits a solar flare that has radiation with it, it has charged particles. two-prong event basically. the radiation gets here a little faster. that happened yesterday and last night. as a matter of fact, some planes, they don't like to fly over the polls because it messes with the radio communications and two, the x-rays, from this radiation, it's not -- you don't want to get zapped with too many x-rays. planes were diverted because of that. the charged particle or the crownal mass ejection travels at 1 million miles an hour. all right. 93 million miles of light, you

do the math. coming at us right now. so this was not an [ inaudible ]. if this was an x flare it would be a major event to trigger wide-scale blackouts. m-9 flare, brief radio plaquebls throughout the day today. with the type of storm, there might be power outages in spots but more going to be a g 2, g 3. spacecraft nasa said they were cool with the iss, they didn't have to do anything terribly drastic with the guys up there. no need for you to go out and buy an iron vest or wear sunglasses today. >> be an iron man. >> aurora burial his, northern lights, could get into the 48. >> all the astronomers out there, thanks a lot, rob. >> coming up in the next hour with suzanne malveaumalveaux, t the price skyrockets when you pay, new rules for airline fees go into effect this week that

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there's no surprise here, newt gingrich is stepping up those attacks on mitt romney with florida's primary just a week away. shannon travis, covering it for us at the gingrich event in st. peters's burg. went after a romney aide, shannon? >> big time kyra. you can't come to st. petersburg, florida, and not draw distincts with your rivals. a number of republicans, retirees, who are conservative and newt gingrich needs to win

here. one of the tat ticks he went after mitt romney. in last night's debate mitt romney and newt gingrich kind of went at it and mitt romney kind of unloaded on who he considered fact after fact after fact going after newt gingrich. well newt gingrich had a response for that today just a few moments ago. take a listen. >> discovered, i guess, that romney has a new debate coach whose specialty is to say as many untrue things as fast as you can to get them all into one or two quick statements. i thought it was kind of wild. >> reporter: now, another thing that newt gingrich said was that romney will have more money in florida than him, but that he will have more people. he also said that that's exactly a mirror image of what happened in south carolina, that propelled him to win, obviously, on saturday, kyra. and newt, get this, left, exited to the song "how do you like me now," kyra?